There are a lot of people out there who think LaVar Ball is hurting his son Lonzo by putting on a show every time someone sticks a microphone in his face. Some think LaVar is going to end up doing damage to Lonzo’s draft stock in the weeks leading up to the 2017 NBA Draft, while others have theorized that LaVar is going to serve as a huge distraction for Lonzo once his NBA career starts. Either way, LaVar’s critics have called him out for stealing the spotlight from Lonzo in an effort to promote the Ball family’s Big Baller Brand.
But former sports agent and NFL team executive Andrew Brandt doesn’t see things that way. Brandt—who is now a columnist for TheMMQB—penned a piece about Ball called "LaVar Ball Is Just Another Guy in the Herd" that details some of the experiences he had with fathers—and mothers and brothers and aunts and uncles, etc.—like Ball over the years during his time as an agent. According to Brandt, there are "hundreds, if not thousands, of LaVar Balls out there, of all shapes, sizes, genders, race, and age." And while Brandt admits LaVar is "more vocal" and "more public" than most of them—partly because he has a forum that they don’t have—he doesn’t consider LaVar to be all that unique.
Brandt also doesn’t consider LaVar to be the problem that other people seem to think he is. Rather, he views LaVar as the perfect "no guy" for Lonzo, which is to say that he has put himself in a good position to deflect any negativity that might come Lonzo’s way. From friends asking Lonzo for monetary favors to members of the media reaching out to Lonzo to do stories on him that might not paint him in the most favorable light, Brandt think LaVar will be able to keep Lonzo insulated from the outside world in a way that most of other "no guys" wouldn’t be able to do. He will be able to say no when Lonzo can’t, and in Brandt’s opinion, that will give Lonzo a huge advantage over other young players in this year’s draft.
Here is an excerpt from Brandt’s piece:
Elsewhere in the piece, Brandt also discusses some of the athletes he’s worked with who haven’t had someone like LaVar in their corner, and he makes a compelling argument for why we should all cut LaVar some slack and stop criticizing his every move. You can check out the full piece here. It’s an interesting and well thought-out take on a topic that has touched a lot of nerves in recent months.
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